How do you manage humidity when storing large telephoto lenses?

If you would like to post, you'll need to register. Note that if you have a BCG store account, you'll need a new, separate account here (we keep the two sites separate for security purposes).

Member's gallery
I just got a dry cabinet. Love it. I live in Florida with the AC on all the time but the bottom line is easy storage spot for lots of gear and more importantly better safe than sorry.
 
Member's gallery
I have one but don't use it.

The best all round i find is on steel wire shelf's that get plenty of air circulation, not an issue, i had two shutters fail, i was told the lube dried out, ???? why and how who knows, no issues on the steel wire shelves, i never store my gear in bags of covers.
 
Member's gallery
I have two and love them. Humidity control only one benefit and not a major issue where I live. But for organization, keeping the dust and cat off them they are great. Ruggard EDC-80L Electronic Dry Cabinet (80L) is for my 600 f/4 E and of my bodies and Ruggard EDC-120L Electronic Dry Cabinet (120L) now discontinued for everything else. Got them on sale from B&H and very nice inexpensive storage.
 
Member's gallery
I was using DampRid in the storage closets for my gear but augmented these with a whole house dehumidifier that cost less thn $200. I set it for 50% humidity and it goes on automatically if it gets above that level. The first time I used it the tank accumulated a liter of water in less than 2 hours. I was very impressed. The lowered humidity protects camera gear and also my belts and shoes and other leather items which tend to be a good medium for fungus spores.

I also have a house furnace that I can set to have only the fan turn on periodically to move air around the house. This helps with getting moist air to the dehumidifier as well as allows me to set the thermostat much lower and save on my gas bill.
 
Member's gallery
Calson said:
I was using DampRid in the storage closets for my gear but augmented these with a whole house dehumidifier that cost less thn $200. I set it for 50% humidity and it goes on automatically if it gets above that level. The first time I used it the tank accumulated a liter of water in less than 2 hours. I was very impressed. The lowered humidity protects camera gear and also my belts and shoes and other leather items which tend to be a good medium for fungus spores.

I also have a house furnace that I can set to have only the fan turn on periodically to move air around the house. This helps with getting moist air to the dehumidifier as well as allows me to set the thermostat much lower and save on my gas bill.
Click to expand...
We ended up having to get a dehumidifier after I got my first dry cabinet to take care of a mold on windows issue. We had go to 45% but it fixed that problem. It is a noisy beast when it runs ant that first day was shocking how much water we had to dump.
 
Member's gallery
I finally got with the program and purchased a humidity-controlled lens storage cabinet. It was inspired by the unpleasant surprise when selling some of my late father's Nikon lenses. I learned they had fungus from improper storage at some point in their life, and their value was near nil as a result. Prefer not to have that happen to me!

The humidity-controlled cabinet works great, but it doesn't fit my largest lenses (ex.: Z 800mm). How do you store such lenses? It seems to require a huge cabinet to fit such lenses, and I'm wondering if folks have come up with better, clever ways to manage humidity for large telephotos.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts or advice!
 
Member's gallery
In most situations, you won't need special storage to avoid fungus. Stay below 60% relative humidity and it should be fine.

I once had fungus in a lens and other gear. It was because I had put my camera bag down with snow clinging to its bottom (that I hadn't noticed), and left it for a couple of weeks. The snow melted and the water soaked the bottom of the case. That was not good. But it was not a reason to get a humidity-controlled cabinet.
 
Member's gallery
From what I've read and seen, the humidity-controlled storage cabinets are mostly gimmicks unless you live somewhere with extreme humidity. 85%+

If you have AC in your house and humidity stays below 70%, you have nothing to worry about.

I wouldn't bother unless you have antique (see: irreplaceable) gear.

Otherwise just keep using the gear regularly, and keep insurance on it and you should be fine.
 
Member's gallery
i guess a lot depends on where you live.

You can’t get any more humid than the summer weather on the east part of the Continental US. I grew up in that environment and the air gets so thick you can cut it with a knife.

I now I’ve in Seattle. We have a reputation for being rainy but we actually don’t get more inches of precipitation than the east cost. Our summers are dry and humidity is generally not a problem in our homes.

I can store my camera gear in their bags or in cabinet drawers and have never had a problem with fungus. I would be more concerned if I lived in an area with high humidity.
 
Member's gallery
Carmel Nikon said:
I finally got with the program and purchased a humidity-controlled lens storage cabinet. It was inspired by the unpleasant surprise when selling some of my late father's Nikon lenses. I learned they had fungus from improper storage at some point in their life, and their value was near nil as a result. Prefer not to have that happen to me!

The humidity-controlled cabinet works great, but it doesn't fit my largest lenses (ex.: Z 800mm). How do you store such lenses? It seems to require a huge cabinet to fit such lenses, and I'm wondering if folks have come up with better, clever ways to manage humidity for large telephotos.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts or advice!
Click to expand...
I would think if your residence has air conditioning, high humidity shouldn’t be a problem.
 
Member's gallery
I have a cabinet which is big enough for everything except my big lens!
so the z180-600;stays in a Peli case with silica gel pads.

Here in the UK it’s generally not an issue, so most homes don’t have air conditioning, but with summer temps reaching 30°C (86°F) and over, it’s becoming a necessity. Today we hit 32°C and 45% humidity. My cabinet is a constant 40% which I read somewhere…
 
Member's gallery
I have a storage cabinet for most of my gear. However, the 800 PF is too big for the cabinet so I purchased the silica dry packs and place a couple of them in the lens bag/case. They are cheap on amazon and the ones I got can be recharged in a microwave oven when they turn color.
 
Member's gallery
Thank you for all the excellent thoughts. My abode can get up to 65% RH during the summer, so whether remediation is a gimmick or whether over enough years that humidity level can lead to fungus, I'm glad either way to address it.

It sounds like the most practical approach for big lenses is desiccant packs - time to stock up on some, and use them. Thank you, all!
 
Member's gallery
I have all of my gear in a large (couple adults could fit in it no problem) Browning gun safe which has an electronic dehumidifier. Works great and have never had an issue.
 
Member's gallery
The cheapest way to do it is with extra large ziploc bags or other airtight storage bags. Throw in a pack or two of silica gel before squeezing out as much air as you can. I've done this with large telephoto in the tropics. Works perfectly and is low cost.
 
Member's gallery
I use airtight transparent boxes where I put my lenses and a small box with silica gel that has moisture indicator (I bought 1 kilo). Once the indicator change color ( to pink), I remove the silica from the box and replace with fresh one (blue color). Then, I put the used silica in the oven at minimum and recover the silica again. This way is comparatively cheap and last almost forever. Dry boxes are not available in my country and, on the other hand, are more expensive, requires more place, need electricity and have a fixed volume, so they are a problem if one adds more lenses in a future. If I need more space, I buy an additional box and put one over the others.
 
Member's gallery
Living up here in the tropics of Far North QLD, AUSTRALIA, a dry cabinet for lenses, bodies & bino's is a must and find my Forspark 80L dry cabinet has worked flawlessly.
They are sold under various names throughout the world, but all are almost identical.
Even when we lived in a far more tolerable temperate climate in Sydney, one will find mold/mildew damage on interior lens glass (without appropriate measures) during Winter and times of high humidity unless you run your AC systems almost 24/7, I learnt this over 40 years ago when trying to keep/store slide/transparencies.


Forspark DC.jpg
You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.
 
Last edited:
Member's gallery
Since we are full time in an RV space is very limited. When at a location everything that is going to be used is out and resides on a bunk bed in open air space. Normally humidity is controlled reasonably well, currently in Cody Wy. and humidity is in the 20’s inside. When in transit everything is put away in a case or camera bag with silica dry packs, inside humidity will vary but remains reasonable as we normally will have AC or heat on when traveling. Winter is normally is spent in Florida a the AC is normally on, occasionally the heat. Been full time for 10 years no problems …….Yet
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top